


Another Time

by Jelly_Princess



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Death, F/M, Flashbacks, POV Multiple, Psychological Horror, Time Loop, Time Travel, lots of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-03 06:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4090324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly_Princess/pseuds/Jelly_Princess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha leads the New Avengers on their first official mission and things go horribly wrong within minutes... They end up trapped in a mansion with an unseen creature lurking in the shadows. After a few days it becomes clear that none of them will make it out alive...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sam Wilson

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Please forgive me for the awkward title. This fic is inspired by the Ao Oni series. I'm using this as an opportunity to shamelessly blend comic and movie universes. If anyone is interested, i'll upload art of the story. Expect death and sadness in graphic detail. You've been warned.

**Sam Wilson**

 

It wasn't what he expected, he was allowed to say that right? It was his first official avengers mission and maybe he was disappointed. “And they're stuck in there?” he asked. He looked to Natasha for confirmation and she simply nodded. “Okay.” he looked back to the mansion. Just a simple mansion, it wasn't even that big. Yet, Bruce Banner and Pepper Potts were lost in there and they had been for 2 days now. But he just couldn't believe they were lost in this place.

It looked beautiful, too beautiful. Maybe that was why they were here? Was this a joke mission? Maybe she just wanted to see if he could handle a stealth mission before actually sending him on one. He'd only really trained with Steve at the base, but he was more then sure he didn't need this.

“They went in exactly two days ago and according to Tony, some dark creature attacked them.” Natasha said. Steve had briefed him about this just hours ago, but that was all the information they had. Tony had only given them so much before he passed out and was rushed to surgery.

“So we're just going to look for them?” Sam asked. If something had attacked them, wouldn't Bruce have Hulked out? He wouldn't get stuck here would he?

“Yes.” Natasha said, “We're doing this one floor at a time, according to Tony there are only 3 floors and they were attacked on the 3rd floor.” 

“And the monster?” Wanda finally spoke up. Wanda was nervous, he could tell. Her first unofficial avengers mission had been fighting Ultron's robots. Sure, that was a big mission but this was different. It was a stealth mission and her first mission since she lost her brother. She wanted to do well here, but she had no idea what she should have been expecting.

“We have orders not to engage it.” Natasha said finally, although it was clear she didn't really agree with that, “We don't know what we're dealing with and we're only here to Find Bruce and Pepper. But if we encounter it, I'll give the orders then”

“Right.” Wanda nodded and they headed up the steps. There were two potted plants on each step and they looked well cared for. If this house was really as old and untouched as they claimed, why did everything seem so well kept? There were no loose floorboards on the porch, no peeling paint or dusty windows. The house was in great shape.

Natasha pushed opened the door, her eyes narrowed slightly as she entered. The doorway was dark he couldn't see inside, “It's clear.” she said quietly but he heard her clearly through the headset they were all wearing.

He and Wanda exchanged glances before they entered. It was well lit inside, despite the fact that he hadn't been able to see a second ago. “No sign of an attack here.” she murmured. These notes were more for herself but he still listened closely. He wasn't used to this kind of work. He was The Falcon and he was used to flying into battle, he had combat training, but sneaking around and whispering wasn't his style. He still couldn't get used to any of the hand signals Natasha flashed at him.

To his right was a thud and he turned quickly, “Did you hear that?” He stared down the hall and into the room where he'd heard the noise. It was dark and he couldn't see anything.

“Yes.” Natasha said, “Check it out.”

“Me?” he questioned. Now that they were in the mansion, he was starting to realize how real this was. There was a since of dread hanging in the room and he was almost wishing that this wasn't real. He hadn't even been this worried when he helped take down Hydra and they'd faced an entire organization then.

“It's a room away, Wilson.” Natasha said, “We'll be right here. You know what to do.” He nodded, and stepped away from the group and down the hall. He was curious about the creature that had attacked Tony, but he definitely wasn't ready to see it. He didn't know anything about it. Still, he was expecting someone to turn on the lights and shout surprise, once he entered the room.

He entered the room and looked around, nothing. It was a kitchen and a bowl of fruit had fallen off of the table. He rolled his eyes and walked over to it. “It's just fruit.” he said into his headset.

“Fruit?” Wanda responded, “But it is an abandoned mansion.”

“There were people here recently, maybe they put it here.” He said, “Now what knocked it off the counter is a different question.” There was nothing around, no creature, no mice, nothing.

“What else is in there?” Natasha asked.

“It's a kitchen.” he said.

“Alright, anything suspicious besides the fruit bowl?” she asked. He wasn't sure what she wanted him to see. “Examine your surroundings, Wilson.” This had to be a test, was there something here he was supposed to be seeing?

“Okay, There's a tiny table with 2 chairs sitting on one side and another chair on the other side.” he said, “The last chair is turned towards the kitchen like someone was sitting there.” He walked over to it and felt it, “It's warm too, someone was definitely sitting here.” He immediately began to check for more doors, “There's no other way out.” So where did this person go?

“Natasha...” Wanda whispered. The headset crackled and he heard Natasha give a few orders that he couldn't understand.

“Guys? I didn't catch that.” he said quietly. He looked out of the door and down the hall and didn't see Natasha and Wanda waiting there as they had been. “Hello?” His headset buzzed quietly and he tapped it, the signal was lost. He'd have to meet back up with her to get the signal re-calibrated. “Great.”

He walked back down the hall slowly, still unsure what he should be expecting, maybe they'd simply moved out of sight, or maybe they'd seen the creature and ran off. Maybe this was a real mission and it had gone south already.

He stood straight and looked around the foyer, there was nothing out of place and Natasha and Wanda were gone. The front door was still wide open, but he could see that they weren't outside... So where did they go? The headset sprang to life and he jumped. “Wilson!”

“Yes?” he looked around, “Where are you?”

“Upstairs!” Wanda shouted. There were gun shots and the headset went dead again. This time he'd heard where the shots came from and he rushed off in that direction. The shots continued and there was a loud roar, he stopped for a moment to take out his gun before continuing forward. He could see Wanda shooting into a room. Whatever it was, he'd been sure Wanda could stop it, but from what he could see, she was just shooting at it and wasn't using her enhancements at all.

She looked towards him and shook her head, “Run!” she shouted. She managed to fire one more shot before the creature turned to him. And then everything ended.

 

 


	2. Wanda Maximoff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. I hope you like this one.

**Wanda Maximoff**

 

Natasha was questioning Sam and while she wasn't being harsh at all, Wanda was glad she wasn't in his position. This was her first mission and she still wasn't sure if she could do the job right. The last thing she needed was a test, she wouldn't be able to handle that.

"Examine your surroundings, Wilson." Natasha said. She gave her a look that suggested she should do the same. Wanda examined the foyer. There were 2 hallways and a staircase directly in front of her. Next to the stairway was a door with no handle. It looked like the handle had been removed.

She couldn't really see down the left hall, it was dark just as the doorway had been when they first entered the mansion. Maybe walking down there would give her more sight. The walls had a few dusty light fixtures on them but only one of them seemed to work.

A shadow darted to her left and she turned quickly. Her heart was racing as she looked around for what she'd seen. Natasha cast her a glance and she swallowed, there was something above the doorway. It didn't have eyes, but she knew it was looking at her. It was just a big black mass and it was dripping...

"Natasha..." She said quietly. She didn't want to take her eyes off of it. Her hands moved on their own but nothing happened. She hadn't really known what she was planning on doing, but the red mist that always preluded an attack didn't even appear.

"Don't move, wait until I give you the signal and run." Natasha said.

"Where?" Wanda asked. Could she get out of the house with that thing perched above the door? Maybe if she could fire a shot at it... but she couldn't even feel the enhancement anymore. They'd always given her a high perception of a lot of things yet now there was nothing.

"Upstairs. Get to a room and lock the door." Natasha said. Natasha gave the signal and she took off. Up the stairs and into a room but she didn't lock the door. She couldn't leave Natasha and Sam with it. Not when she was capable of stopping it.

"Guys? I didn't get that." Sam said. But his voice was low and cracking.

"I'm upstairs." She said, "Natasha? Are you okay?" She tapped the ear piece and waited. "Natasha?" she peeked out into the hall and almost yelped when Natasha pushed her in and closed the door.

"I told you to lock the door." She hissed.

"I know but-" Natasha put a finger to her lips.

"Listen, Comms are down and that thing followed me up here." Natasha said. She was loading her pistol and Wanda did the same. "We just need to keep it away while we find Sam and get to the door."

"We're leaving?" She asked.

"It's safer to be outside while we form an attack plan." She said.

Another flash of black and Natasha was gone. Mid-sentence, the woman had just vanished. At least it looked that way. The room was dark, so maybe that's why she hadn't noticed the black sludge at first. Whatever they were standing in had reached up and grabbed her.

"Natasha?" She called out. But there was no answer. She could see Natasha struggling to wipe the sludge away but with every swipe, more took it's place. She was going to drown in it. "Natasha?" She called louder. She backed against the door and looked around. The entire room was covered in it and it was rising up her leg...

Something wet hit her forehead and she let out a whimper. It was over the doorway again...

Slowly she lifted a hand to the doorknob and pushed the door open. "Sam? Natasha is being attacked." She said, "We have to help her." She slowly creeped backwards and watched as the black mass dripped from the wall.

She turned to run but something caught her eye. "Natasha..." She was standing now, still pulling at the sludge,

“Go.” she choked out. Wanda watched as the black sludge swallowed her again, leaving no trace of her. The sludge moved towards the middle of the room and began to form some sort of body. "Wilson!" She called out as she ran.

"Yes?" He answered, "Where are you?"

"Upstairs." She felt something wet on face and knew that the creature was above her again. She fired a shot without thinking and realized that she'd made a mistake immediately.

Natasha's body was still tangled in whatever it was but thankfully she'd missed. Still, the creature was angry. It darted back towards the room and with a rush of courage, she followed it. She aimed and shot again and the creature roared. She shot again and saw Sam out of the corner of her eyes.

Her legs were frozen and she couldn't use her magic... She turned to Sam and screamed for him to run and the darkness covered her.

 

0.o.0.o.0

 

She woke up in a bathroom. The walls and the floors where so white that it hurt her eyes and with a groan, she pushed herself off of the tiled floor and leaned on the sink. She wasn't hurt, but her jacket and her weapon were gone... She looked into the mirror and noticed she was covered in black sludge.

Frantically, she wiped as much away as she could. It didn't seem to be alive like the sludge that had consumed Natasha but she didn't want to risk it. She didn't know if Natasha was still alive, but she'd seen the fear in the older woman's eyes as she was swallowed.

With a shudder she turned on the faucet and began to wash it away. It took a moment before she realized how loud the water was compared to the eerie silence of the bathroom. What if the creature heard her? She shut it off and looked up, she checked the ceiling and sighed in relief. It wasn't in the room.

After making sure the door was locked she settled down onto the toilet. She didn't know what to do. Her weapons were gone, her headset was gone, and the enhancements were gone... She was completely defenseless.

She held up her hand and attempted to call to the powers. The red mist usually came to her without much of a thought but now... She couldn't feel it.

There was a noise outside of the bathroom and she stood. Footsteps, she was sure they were footsteps. The creature didn't walk, it... Well she'd only really seen it dart about when she wasn't looking and it had dropped from the doorway to attack her.

The footsteps grew louder, whatever was out there was creeping towards the door slowly.Quietly she looked around for something to fight with. There was a toilet brush near the bathtub and she grabbed it before lowering herself into the tub. A part of her grew angry. After everything she'd been through, she was going to die cowering in a bath tub with a dirty toilet bowl brush.

Any thoughts she was having disappeared quickly when the doorknob rattled. She took a breath and waited. It shook once more before someone knocked. "Dr. Banner? Ms Potts?"

"Sam!" She jumped up and opened the door. "You're okay." She said.

"Yeah." He moved her aside and stepped in, "It's completely dark in this place but I could see the lights." He switched them off.

How stupid of her, she could have led the creature right to her. "I just woke up," she said, "The lights were already on." She felt around for the toilet and sat down. "That thing ate Natasha, it covered her in this sludge and... I don't know what's happening."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "I saw that thing for a second before everything went dark and you guys disappeared."

"We have to get out of here." She said.

"Yeah, about that..." Sam cleared his throat, "The front door is... I can't find it. I have no idea where we are."

Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness and she saw that he still had his weapons. A knife, his flashlight, a gun... "All of my weapons are gone." She said, "And I can't call my powers." She didn't want him thinking she was useless, but hand to hand combat wasn't going to stop whatever they were against.

"Just stick with me." He said, "I've been walking around this place for at least an hour and I haven't seen the monster at all."

"What about Banner and Pepper?" She asked. After that attack, she had little hope that they were even alive. They went missing two days ago...

"No sign of anybody here, but I haven't even checked the entire place." Sam sighed, "Either this place is really big or I'm walking in circles."

"What do we do then?" She asked. They weren't going to stay in there, but they couldn't just keep wandering around. "What if we see it again?"

"I don't know." Sam said, "But we'll come up with something." She stood up again and he moved towards the door, "Stay close." He opened it and they walked out into the hall.

 


	3. Sam Wilson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who read and commented.

**Sam Wilson**

 

 

He paused at a staircase, it was the first set he'd seen since finding Wanda and he could even see lights on. "Okay, I think that might be the first floor." Sam whispered.

Wanda didn't respond and he pulled out his gun again.

Her hands twitched nervously and he wondered what they'd do if the creature was up there.

He could assume that they were in a basement now, there had been no windows and only a few dim lights. The creature wasn't down here but he knew for certain that it was up the stairs. "What do you want to do?" He asked.

"We have to go up." Wanda said.

"When we get up there, we'll try to find your gun." He said, "We have to limit our talking so use signals when possible."

"I don't remember them all." She said. And neither did he. When training with Steve, they'd used basic hand gestures that were easily interpreted, but Natasha had an array of gestures. It was almost like sign language.

"We'll only use simple movements." He said, "ready?"

"Yes." She nodded. Slowly, with their backs to each other, they climbed the stairs. Together, they stepped out into the hall and he could see the foyer. He turned to Wanda and nodded before going forward. There was nothing so far and he didn't know if that was good or bad.

Wanda checked the ceiling and continued to glance behind her even when the made it to the front door. "Damn..." He muttered.

He bit his lip, remembering the 'No Talking' rule.

The door was sealed with some pulsing black sludge. At least he assumed it was sealed, he wasn't going to touch it. "It isn't alive." Wanda whispered.

"How do you know?" He asked, “It looks like it's breathing.” She shrugged her shoulders and stepped forward. He followed closely, ready to pull her back if the sludge showed the slightest hint of life.

"It's like the stuff that was on me when I woke up." She looked at her boots and pants. There was still a lot on her. "It leaves this stuff on whatever it touches."

She raised a shaky hand to the door and felt the sludge. "It's drying... some parts are hard. We have to remove it to get out."

"And how do we do that?" He mumbled. She looked back at him and the at his gun, "We can't shoot it." He shook his head, "That'll make too much noise and who knows if it'll even work."

"So we go upstairs then." She said, "We go back to that room where Natasha was attacked and-"

"And what?” He interrupted, “Fight the monster again? Since that worked so well the first time.”

"She if she's still there." Wanda crossed her arms, "We don't have a lot of options, we either go back down there and try to find a way out or we go up and try to find a way out. "

She was right, they couldn't just stand around, they had to find Natasha, Bruce, and Pepper. "Upstairs then." He said, "And I feel like I said this before but I'll say it again. No talking."

She gave a small smile before nodded towards the stairs. He led the way and had one foot on the stairs when his headset came back on. He jumped and took a breath.

"What is it?" Wanda asked.

"It's a headset. Someone's, maybe yours. I can't hear anything. Just creaking..." He said. They walked up the stairs and he remembered which room he'd seen Wanda shooting into. It was where he'd last seen the monster before everything went black. If they were separated again then he probably wouldn't be able to find her again.

"I'm going in." She whispered. Her steps were quickly and he almost had to run to keep up, he managed to grab her arm before she entered the room. A glare was enough to keep her still.

The room looked empty, but he needed to be sure. He was the one with the weapon, he'd enter first.

He stepped in and looked around. There was nothing. He motioned for her to join him and she hurried inside, closing the door after her.

"It's not as dark." She said quietly. She still double checked the room. Sam took out his flashlight and gave it to her. She turned it on and examined everything. "It's gone..." She said.

"Yeah..."

"There's no trace of it." She turned off the flashlight. "My gun isn't here either." He rubbed his neck and sighed. They needed to find it. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight the monster _and_ protect her.

"Follow me." Wanda nodded and they were back into the hall. They checked each room the same way, he'd enter first. Pointing his flashlight around before motioning for her to come in. Every room on the floor was eerily empty and there was no sign of Natasha anywhere.

"It isn't on this floor." He said after checking the 3rd room. There were still 2 more rooms on the floor, but he was certain that it wasn't there. They rested inside with the door locked, this room had a window at least so there was some light.

He immediately tried to open it, but it wouldn't move. There was nothing physically keeping it shut, but he couldn't open it. Maybe he could shoot the glass, but that might attract noise and whatever was in here would get out into the world.

"There's one more floor." Wanda said, "We have to check up there."

"Listen, if we see it. You have to run." He said, "go back to the basement and hide. Try to find that bathroom again."

"And you? Shooting it only makes it angry." She said, "It will eat you." She didn't sound afraid, just annoyed.

"I don't plan to fight it... I don't even know what it can do. Fighting it would be stupid." He said, "But I think I've got a better chance at distracting it then you do." They trained for the same amount of time at SHIELD, but he'd had military training before that, he knew how to work in high pressure situations. But she was the one who's actually faced it before. "You saw it, what can it do?"

"It was just sludge... All over the walls and ceiling. And it fell on Natasha. She couldn't get it off of her and the it all bunched up, like it was forming something... I think it was trying to make arms and legs." She explained. "I think it can turn itself into whatever it wants and when it touches you... I blacked out. And I don't know what it did to me, but I woke up somewhere else covered in the black stuff."

"So we don't let it touch us." Sam said, "take a moment, we're going to check the next floor soon." She nodded and took a seat by the window. Her eyes still occasionally flicked towards the ceiling and the door, but that was it. He was glad that she wasn't fighting his orders. She was more then capable of leading, he'd seen her do so when Steve took them out on training missions.

"I think... There is something here that's blocking my powers." She said, "I haven't been able to use them since I walked into this place." She raised her hands, "I think the monster is doing something."

"Then this is worse then I thought." He said. That was why Banner hadn't been able to fight back... "But how could it do that?"

She was about to answer when they heard a loud crash. He was on his feet and in front of the door in seconds and Wanda was right behind him. "Like I said, run to the basement."

He opened the door and rushed out, there was nothing. A broken dish was on the ground in the middle of the hallway but there was nothing else. "It's clear." She followed him out and followed closely as he hurried to the stairs. They were going up. "There." He pointed. In the darkness he could see her gun on the top step.

"It's... A trap." She shook her head. And it probably was, there must have been something waiting up there for them.

"Stay here." He said. "I'll throw it to you."

He walked up the stairs slowly his heart beating fast. Whatever was waiting would be ready to attack, but he needed that gun.

Two steps away from it, Wanda screamed. "Help!" He turned back and saw it. The black mass that now resembled something humanoid had her. It's arms snaked around her waist and it opened its mouth. Wanda was attempting to push it away but the sludge was beginning to cover her.

He fired a shot at it and it shrank back, taking her with it. She let out a cry and he rushed after them. He fired another shot and it dropped her. She scrambled away and up the stairs for her gun.

He shot it again and it roared before darting off again. He found Wanda laying at the top of the stairs. "It bit me." She gasped. She held up her hand, “It just... It had a lot of teeth.”

"Can you walk?" He helped her up and she nodded before bending down and picking up her gun. "Come on." They needed to hide form it.

He pulled her into another room and shut the door. He locked it before looking to Wanda. "Let me see it." He said.

"It's not bad." She held out her hand again, "I think that was a person." He didn't have any bandages on him, but it wasn't bleeding much anyway. "I think I'll be okay."

He nodded and looked around the bedroom the lights had already been on and he could see that it was a bedroom.

It was pretty clean, there were papers all over the floor. "This is where they were when they were attacked." Wanda whispered. There were furniture catalogues in the floor and on the nightstand was a cup of coffee. And the bed... The sheets were bloody and... "There's something under there." She pointed.

Sam took a breath, "You lift the sheets and I'll look under." He said.

They got into position and he took out his flashlight and gun. He was fully prepared for whatever was under there. "On 3..." He said. He mouthed the numbers and she pulled up the sheets.

Underneath the bed was a black mass. It shook and convulsed and shrank away from the light.

"I don't know what it is..." He said. It looked harmless but he wasn't taking any chances, "I'm going to pull it out." He stuck his flashlight into it and it latched on. He pulled it out and took out his knife.

"You're going to stab it?" Wanda wrinkled her nose, "What if it just eats the knife?" She pointed to the creature as if wrapped itself around the flashlights.

"Watch the door okay?" He said, "I don't know if this will work but if it does, it might make a sound and who knows what that will attract."

"Right." Wanda walked to the doorway and raised her gun. He turned his attention to the creature and pulled out the flashlight.

Sam took the knife and plunged it's into the creature. It writhed and screeched but it wasn't loud. Clear liquid poured from the wound and Sam stabbed it again.

The writhing continued for a minute or so before it stopped and died. "Okay, it's dead."

"What is it?" Wanda asked.

"I don't know man." Sam sighed. Now that the creature was relaxed and dead, he could make out a a form of some sort. It was cat like, but it had no tail. "I think this was a regular cat, but that black stuff covered it and took over." He poked it with the knife and tried to clear away some of the goop. He could see patches of orange fur underneath.

"So do you think that's what happened to Natasha?" Wanda asked, "Or Bruce and Pepper?"

"I hope not." Who knew if it was possible to come back from this.

"What if the thing that chased us was Natasha..." Wanda said. Sam frowned, if it was, then she was in trouble, because he'd shot it 3 times.

 


	4. Wanda Maximoff

**Wanda Maximoff**

 

 

Her hand was burning and she suddenly felt lightheaded. Whatever Sam had shot had been stronger then her. It's arms were long, but maybe that was just the black stuff making it appear that way. She leaned against the wall and looked to Sam, "That wasn't Natasha." She said, "It was too tall."

"How many animals did that thing eat then?" Sam huffed.

It had probably eaten any animal that wandered in. "But where is the main thing?" she asked.

"What?" Sam nudged the cat with his boot.

"It covers people with goo and controls them. Where is the main monster? I saw it attack Natasha earlier." Wanda said. It had attacked her too, yet somehow the goo hadn't controlled her.

"I'm not looking forward to finding it." He wiped his brow, "We won't be able to fight it." She had one more clip left and Sam was probably on his last one as well.

"We'll just have to keep running when we see one." She told him, "Maybe if we kill the big one, everything it's controlling will turn back to normal." She was thinking more about Natasha now. She didn't want to believe that she was gone just to because she was being controlled.

"Maybe." Sam said. There was a thud and he looked to her. She nodded and they both went to the door. 'On three.' He mouthed. They counted down together and opened the door. Wanda moved to the side as a body fell into the room. "Natasha." Sam closed the door and Wanda began wiping the goo from her face.

"She's alive." Wanda said as she dumped the goo into a pile. She watched the rise and fall of Natasha chest, she was breathing normally at least.

"Just get all that stuff off of her." Sam said, "Then I'll get rid of it." Wanda continued to wipe before Natasha jerked awake. She began flailing her arms wildly, "Natasha!" Wanda stepped back, "It's just us. Are you okay?"

"Wha...huh?" Natasha stopped her flailing and looked around.

"You're safe for now." Sam said. Wanda went back to her side

"You woke up when I touched this area." She touched it again and Natasha hissed. "It looks bad."

"The creature... It bit me and when that black goo started to touch it..." Wanda thought of her bite, none of the black goo had gotten in but she was feeling weaker. "I saw Banner and Potts while I was in there... They're not hurt."

"So you could see everything?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I remember it. It had full control and I could only watch." Natasha touched her side again, "It didn't hurt anyone, but it did take Wanda and I blacked out for a moment."

That was how she'd ended up in the basement. "Where did you see them?" She asked.

"2nd floor... They barricaded themselves in a room." Natasha said weakly. She leaned back again, "I can't walk right now, and you need to be alert when you go up there."

"We can't leave you here." Wanda said. Not while she was hurt, "We can carry you." Natasha wasn't heavy so it shouldn't be a problem.

"No, i'd slow you down. You can come back for me later." Natasha said. She fell back and passed out. Wanda looked down at the wound and saw that some of the black goo had seeped in.

"In going to stay with her." She decided, "Can you go by yourself?"

"And if something comes in here?" Sam asked, "We have to stay together."

"And leave Natasha?" Wanda asked, "I would be too slow carrying her and you need both of your hands free to fight that thing."

He thought it over before sighing, "Okay but... Hide in the closet or something and if it comes, just scream and run. I'll come back for Natasha" He picked up Natasha and Wanda hurried to the closet. She checked inside before nodding at him. He placed Natasha down and Wanda squeezed in next to her. "I'll be back." Sam assured.

"I know." Wanda nodded, "Now go. Once we are all together we can figure out how to get out." Sam closed the door and she could hear him walking away. She heard the door close again and she almost got up to lock it.

She sat in the dark for a long time before she heard the door open again. At first, she assumed that Sam had returned, but she didn't hear his boots. Instead she heard the same dragging and dripping noise from before.

The creature, it was in the room. This wasn't something it had taken over either. She'd seen them move. They're footsteps were squishy and loud. No... This was bad.

Her hand went to Natasha immediately, she wouldn't be able to protect her if that thing came in... A few minutes of dripping and dragging and suddenly it was eerily quiet.

It was right outside the closet door, she new that much. Her other hand reached for her gun but found the holster empty... She'd put it down when she started wiping the goo from Natasha...

She closed her eyes and waited, there was nothing she could do. Her gun was gone... Natasha was out cold and she was scared. She jumped when she felt something on her leg. It was coming under the door. Wanda pressed herself against the wall, she couldn't run and leave Natasha. Sam had told her to run but...

Her leg was covered and she tricked to kick the goo away but it moved quickly up her leg and engulfed the other. She flailed weakly as it climbed and covered her chest. Scream! She had to scream and Sam would come back. But she couldn't, her mouth wasn't working.

A familiar feeling tickled her hand and she gasped. Her hexes! She pointed her hands and fired a blast. A small red mist shot from her finger tips and the creature retreated. She smirked and did it again. She was weak, but it was working. With every blast her hand throbbed and burned but it was almost gone.

It was out of the closet but she couldn't stop there. She needed to get it out and barricade the room. Several blasts later and it was in the middle of the room. But she couldn't cast anymore. She stumbled back and clutched her hand. She shouldn't have used so much energy, she could barely stand.

The creature began to bunch up like it had the first time she saw it. It formed arms and legs and she could see to eyes struggling to break free. Stumbling back towards the closet, she waited. “Natasha...” she glanced back, “I'm sorry.” she said before running out of the room.

Just as she hoped, the creature followed her. Now she just had to lead it somewhere else. Her lungs burned as she ran down the hall, she wasn't going to make it anywhere. Her hand was on fire and her vision was greying.

She made it to the first floor before her vision ended and the monster got her,

 


End file.
